Sick bat protocol
 

Just found a little bat clinging to the window frame in front of the house (first floor, outside).

What should I do?

Thanks

I tend to be opinionated, it is my opinion that all wildlife should be left alone. If it dies and you are sure it is sick and not just suffering from heat, etc., then I suppose you might want to notify authorities so that they can decide whether to check for rabies or not.

We just had this discussion today at the Vet where I work. Someone brought another bat in to be tested for rabies. The last one had actually bitten a 2 year old and the bat was escorted via police officer/cruiser to the lab some 50 miles away. The one today was just found dead. Since it was outside and all the pets on the premises are vaccinated for rabies then the "opinion" of the vet was that it didn't need to be rushed off to the lab. I asked if this means that I should have every dead bat I find outside tested. She said since all my critters are vaccinated she wouldn't. The bat that bit the 2 year old came back negative for rabies.

I'm guessing that if you leave it where it is, once it gets dark, it will fly away. Perhaps something disturbed it from where it was resting and it just landed on your screen.

Yeah, who knows?

yes bats sometimes have rabies, but it is a pretty rare "sometimes".

I would try to avoid it, and see if it leaves come dark. Bats, like most wildlife, do more good then harm!

I'll leave it until after dark and see what happens then.

I never used to worry about bats at all, but a friends hubby put on a boot about 2 summers ago and got bitten. It went to MSU for testing and came back positive. The whole family had to be vaccinated and it was insanely expensive.

It isn't necessarily "sick". This is the time of year when "baby" bats go solo. They have troubles getting in/out of their daytime haunts and they are small enough to get weak if they don't eat fairly often.

deb
in wi

yup, I see bats accasionally up under the eaves--they just couldn't find their resting spot or they are a disoriented baby. It's the ones flopping on the ground in the daylight and acting aggressive that you have to be careful of, the ones seekign shelter are "normal" behaving.

When is it late enough in the summer to exclude bats from an attic?

I didn't get my attic sealed this spring like I had planned and the bats are back. I want to put an excluder over the hole to let them out but I want to make sure the young bats are old enough before I do that.

With the extra hot summer we're having I'd like to add more insulation to the attic while I can still benefit from it this year.

Well, I went out at dusk last night to see if it was still there, and it had indeed flown away, but what I also saw was 17 bats fly out from under the eave.

I watched and counted until they stopped flying out, but I have no idea how many had already flown before I came out.

Now I'm going to have to hire a bat exclusion pro to deal with this, with my husband's health problems it not something we should try to tackle ourselves.

Dang, like we can afford this. I hope our insurance will cover it :(

I do like bats, but we don't need them breeding and pooping in our attic.

You can build a bat excluder yourself. http://www.batworld.org/bat_problems...-exclusion.pdf

It's based on the principal of letting the bat come out of it's hole and forcing it to climb down the wall to escape. Then when it comes back it tries to fly directly into the hole but the hole is blocked and it can't figure out that it has to land low and climb up under the excluder.

When you are sure they are gone plug every hole with steel wool and then caulk over it.

Are you sure they're in the attic? They could be roosting under the eaves but not actually entering the house.

When we moved in here 2 years ago, there were over 100 bats in our barn. We found quite a few dead bats, both adult and young. I called the game commision, and they said mortality is very high (I was worried about white-nose syndrome).

I have found bats all around the property now - they sleep behind shutters, in the eaves, under shagbark hickory bark strips, all over, but sometimes just for a day.

Not a good time to put up a bat excluder now. Babies are still in the roost. In October you can put one in and then block all the little tiny holes you can find before the cold weather settles in.

I plan on putting the extruder up in late August or early September. Our insects disappear early here and I don't want any bats to try hibernating in my attic.

I climbed the ladder to look in the attic today and after digging in the insulation for a few minutes and moving the rat traps around I noticed buzzing near my head. It was a wasp nest the size of my head about an arms length away. That's twice in 2 weeks that I've stirred up nests and didn't notice until long after they could have opened up a can of whoop*** on me. Today would have been the worst since I was on top of an extension ladder.

Late August would be a good time for the bat excluder. Most colony bats only have one pup a year. They wait for the hottest time of year since the little ones are born hairless and unable to thermoregulate. The mother bat still has to eat so it has to be warm enough to leave the pup alone. The good news is baby bats fledge at about 3 weeks of age. Excluding them after all the pups are flying but before they start preparing to migrate or hibernate gives them time to set up somewhere else. If you can put up a bat house first they may even move into it so you still get the insect control they provide.

Tiempo, keep an eye on the area they left from around dusk. If you can shine a bright light at the area you may be able to see if it is a hole leading into your attic or just under the eaves. Are the eaves too high for you to install the excluder yourself? It really is easy to do (we use screen and a staple gun).

Also, a bat flapping on the ground is not always sick. When a bat becomes grounded, they have to find something they can climb up in order to fly again. Of course you should never touch any strange animal or give it a chance to bite you. If you find one on the ground, we suggest putting on gloves and using a rag cloth (not terry if possible) slid the cloth under the bat. 99% of the time they will cling on and the it is just a matter of hanging the cloth as high as safely possible (we use thumbtacks). If the bat is off the ground as in the OP just leaving it be at least overnight usually results with the bat leaving on its own as happened here.

Sadly most of our sick rehab bats (ie not broken wings from close encounters with brooms, tennis rackets, or cats) are due to pesticide poisoning. It is a terrible way to die. :(

eek, that would have scared me. :teehee: Wasps and hornets are not my friends! :run:

We used to have migrating bats that would spend a couple nights in our attic in mid-October. They quit coming when had the new windows installed. I miss my bats.

Here's how we handle bat situations in Los Angeles. YMMV, of course, but it's got lots of good basic information and will help you understand the risks.

http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet/medpro.htm

This too: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet/disintro.htm

duplicate

Thanks for all the great info! Everyone else too :)

So I guess we'll install exclusion devices around the end of August. Do you have any suggestions on how to install them on a brick house?

You can see a picture of our house here

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=360471

If you look straight up from the second window from the left you can see a slight shadow where the brick dips in a little, this is where I saw the bats flying out.

Today, I pulled forward that hydrangea that's in front of the window, right under the exit place and there is quite a bit of guano on the window sill and on the plant, does that mean they are likely roosting behind the plastic there rather than inside the roof proper?

ETA I do plan on installing a bat house before the exclusion devices, I do like having the bats around, I just don't want them in the house :)

If the guano is outside then the roost is too.

Tiempo, you have bats in your belfry! :)

Well Willow, we already knew that :)

I just couldn't resist saying it. :)

You could use caulking to attach the screen to the brick. Just do it early in the day so it has time to set up before dusk. It should pull off the brick without too much trouble but I can't say if it will pull the paint off too or not.

I've always heard that by putting the guano in the bat house it encourages them to use it but I don't know if that's a myth or not. It might be a good idea to put the house up now so they have time to find it.

bats are dying from a fungus called white nose..if it has it..it will die..

Was going to post that too!

Ok Bats are Good but we did have a Guy last year die from Rabies after being bit by one.Not a Good way to go.

big rockpile

My DH is sad because he hasn't seen any bats yet this year. Usually we had about 6 of them flying around our barnyard area in the evenings. I'm hoping maybe he just hasn't seen them, and that they aren't completely gone.
There was a sad incident in our area about 10 years ago. Some folks in town found their lab puppy in the yard playing with a downed bat. They captured it, it was tested positive for rabies. The puppy was too young to have had its rabies shot yet, and had to be put down. They had two young children, the whole family was devastated. But, 2 kind people offered them replacement puppies, so they ended up with 2 dogs. Personally we like seeing bats around for insect control, but respect the fact that they can carry rabies.

Sorry for the long delay, busy day!

Yeah it does sound like it is between the brick and trim. The good news is no quano in the attic :) (the plants probably like it too ;) )

I was thinking the same thing about the caulk, leave it in a thick line rather than smear it and just push the screen into the caulk. This should let you just pull it up once they are gone and then you can just caulk the gap or foam if it's a really big gap. I have sent people guano before to 'seed' their houses. I haven't kept track of the results though so no help there :)

No it isn't, but cats and other more commonly encountered animals are much more likely to carry the virus. Bats are just more 'headline worthy' and memorable thanks to Hollywood. Any encounter with a strange animal's saliva should be treated as suspect and precautions taken if the animal cannot be found to be tested. I'd rather be in hock for an expensive shot than dead.

An interesting side note - rabies shots are expensive because it is created in large batches due to the process. So the charge is based on an entire batch. Around here the vets get together now and then and buy a batch for any new vets or techs that want to get their shots. This brings the price down considerably. I've had mine as a precaution since I work with wild animals, I don't have any tags though :D

Thanks! Night before last we went out before dusk and waited to count.

49.

That's perfect, the average bat house holds about 50 bats. :)

If you are handy there are some good plans on the web. If you have old wood behind the garage like DH does, even better. I have found in my own non-scientific study that they prefer aged wood if given the choice.

I've got several bat houses put up on my property. They face east to catch the morning sun. Two are on the garage and 2 others are in trees. Three are wrapped in tar paper. They were put up over 10 years ago and I don't think any have been used.

If I thought they would use it I would gladly build them a 4'x4' house but my track record isn't good.